Leeds United face a huge upcoming match at Sunderland in the Championship and BBC pundit Jobi McAnuff is worried about how one area of the squad is looking ahead of it.
Daniel Farke could not really have asked for a worse time to play the division’s early pace setters despite being on a strong run of form themselves.
Leeds have picked up seven points from their last three matches and still remain unbeaten on the road, but face a Sunderland side who have won every home match without conceding this season.
Jobe Bellingham still believes Leeds are at the level Sunderland aspire to be but Farke will be taking an extremely injury hit squad to the Stadium of Light.
Isaac Schmidt is the only one of five absentees who has a chance of returning for Leeds on Friday night, which was also added to by the injury of Ilia Gruev at Carrow Road.
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Jobi McAnuff shares ‘area of concern’ at Leeds
Farke was unable to provide an update on Gruev in his press conference on Wednesday, but the short turnaround makes it highly unlikely he will play.
Gruev’s injury has come at the worst possible time for Leeds following the news earlier in the week that Ethan Ampadu will miss the next 10 weeks due to a knee ligament problem.
Ampadu had started every single league game for Leeds since his move from Chelsea in July 2023, and was not only Farke’s side’s most important midfielder, but cover at the back too.
Speaking on the latest episode of BBC’s 72+ Podcast, Jobi McAnuff believes Leeds’ midfield is now a real concern for Farke and is intrigued to see how they cope without both Ampadu and Gruev.
He said: “Yeah for sure, I think particularly in that midfield area which is obviously his preferred position and where he’s gone back into this season. With Gruev as well having gone off very early in the game, that is going to be a real area of concern at Leeds United.
“Obviously lost Kamara and Archie Gray in the summer, that is probably the one area where you look at that squad and feel if they were to get one or two, which they have got now, they are going to be really stretched. Really interesting to see how that plays out in the coming weeks.”
Joe Rothwell and Ao Tanaka set for Leeds partnership
In both Gruev and Ampadu’s absence at Norwich, Ao Tanaka was the man tasked with playing just in front of the back four.
Despite being brought into play that more advanced eight role, he is now going to have to do a job deeper, with Joe Rothwell the one who will have more license.
Rothwell spoke of his lack of minutes since arriving at Leeds after the game at Carrow Road, but this is now his chance to show exactly what he can do.
Leeds are certainly going to have plenty of quality on the ball with this pairing, but the one concern will be the defensive side of it.
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